Flight of the Dragoons
by AnneLaurant
Summary: Will is now in college, and yet the nightmares are still here - nightmares of the Heart and its past, nightmares of the guardians and their future, and a nightmare in the form of a familiar redhead called "astral drop". [Is now being continued.]
1. Chapter 1

The Heart shone, brighter, brighter than ever before. Will closed her eyes. "Calm down!" she commanded, "It's just me! It's Will!"

The Heart continued to shine, and Will could hear its power grow, surrounding her. What was happening? Her heart pounded in her ears; her hairs stood on its ends. Was the Heart angry at her? Why was it doing this?

She tried to reach for it, but the Heart flew inside her, phasing through her chest.

Darkness fell, and Will was able to open her eyes. She stared at her chest, feeling it, trying to sense the Heart.

"Heart of Kandrakar… Xin Jing… what did I do? What is the meaning of this?" she asked.

She waited. She got up and drink some milk. She read magazines. She went back to her room and slumped on the bed.

What is this new thing Kandrakar is trying to do now?

"…ugh, I don't have any more time for this," she declared, and she went back to sleep.

However, the dream that visited her was nothing like a dream.

Goodness! What a terrible, heavy rain! Will stood from the ground, yelling for help, but none came. She almost slipped from a cliff and realized it was terrifying mountain filled with dark clouds and lightning storms. Lightning should listen to her; it was her powers, and as a sovereign, she was stronger.

Will opened her eyes and held her hand out, yelling in annoyance. A monstrous roar came from her lungs, and she gasped at the sound.

 _ **[[W-what's… what's happening?!]]**_ Her voice! Her voice had this demonic quality to it, echoing in her head and through the mountain. _**[[NO!]]**_

Distressed, Will attracted lightning to course through her. She roared even more, now in pain and confusion. Every cell of her body being ripped apart; every edge was getting sharper and sharper. Her hair was pointing upwards, and her wings, her wings, they were terrifying her now, she could see their shadow on the ground and they were huge!

Her body changed, convulsing and pulsing with its morphing. Cedric had to be admirable, shifting in and out of various forms…

 _ **[[RUAAARRRRGGGHHHH!]]**_

Her nails lenghtened into claw-like structures. Her skin grew almost disgusting protrusions - no, they were shiny, they were scaly - no, they were scales! Her hair went wilder, longer and messier than it should be… and pointier. It was heavy on both sides, and she knew there was something hard on her head, but all she could do was scream as she changed and her back extend downwards to a swishing tail–

"WILL!"

She shoved everything away with all she got, and a frightened Susan screamed.

"M-mom?!" Will gasped. "Mom! I'm sorry, I–"

"It's fine. You were having nightmares." Susan reached out to wipe her daughter's sweat.

Will nodded, out of air and finally out of the dream. Or nightmare. She had turned into a monster… was the Heart warning her?


	2. Chapter 2

I feel bad that there's like three of you wanting to see this updated. So, here's an update for you lovelies.

* * *

 **[I'm having nightmares.]**

Will typed into the chat space and pressed Enter. Everyone reacted, the beeps simultaneously coming out of her computer.

 **Cornelia:** I assume prophetic and Kandrakar-related.  
 **Hay Lin:** Oh noes. D:  
 **Irma:** Oh, gee. That's my thing, you know. Don't take my thing away from me. :(  
 **Taranee:** What did you see in your nightmares?

Will groaned. She really didn't want to remember it, but it was part of the problem-solving!

 **Will:** I turned part dragon.  
 **Irma:** Cool. :D  
 **Cornelia:** What's so Kandrakar-related about that?  
 **Will:** And before that, the Heart shone bright. Like, sun-bright. Like it hated me the way mornings did.  
 **Hay Lin:** Lol did you sleep in again? XD  
 **Taranee:** And?  
 **Will:** _Hay Lin_ I did but that's not important.  
 _Taranee_ It didn't want to come back to me.  
 **Irma:** I don't see anything bad about it.  
 **Cornelia:** That's a little alarming.  
 **Will:** You didn't experience turning into a dragon so that's okay.

Will glanced at the clock. Tomorrow she needed to turn in her homework, but she wasn't in the mood to do it. She wasn't in the mood to go to Kandrakar either and ask about things.

So, here she was, surfing the Internet.

She was 14 when her guardianhood was revealed to her. She was 16 when she attained a more powerful form, a weapon, and sovereignhood. She was 18 when she received an even more powerful form to take on missions solo.

So what now? What did the Heart, what did Kandrakar want from her now?

Their chat had moved on quickly from the nightmare. Good. The chat usually did that; they usually did that. With their busy college lives, there was no time to get everybody concerned about Kandrakar and the future of the universe, or else they'd forfeit their future on Earth.

And right now, everybody was busy with the exam season coming up. Projects here and there; the girls concerned who had what material and if they could borrow each other's notes, slides, pictures, and other stuff.

No, they didn't go to the same universities. It was quite funny, how they were chosen because they would live close to each other, and now they were far apart, in separate institutions, their only way of communication being the Internet. Being a 'Power Girl' gave them reason to solo missions, with Taranee usually sending them the message from Yan Lin if the Fire Guardian couldn't handle it.

 **Taranee:** Here's today's reminder to do your homework, Will.  
 **Will:** Oh no! I can't escape homework now. :'(  
 **Cornelia:** You're the one lagging behind. Irma's gotten better once she was past the first year.  
 **Hay Lin:** Miraculously! lolol  
 **Irma:** I'm hurt. :'( :'( :'(  
 _ **Nashter logged in.**_  
 **Nashter:** What's up, ladies?

Right. There was Nash, the Runic of Energy. Nash had been one with the team a few weeks after the guardians' sovereignhood, pretty much replacing Orube as their support... and replacing Matt in Will's life. Will no longer cared about Matt, but at the least, she'd fixed herself enough to start dating again.

 **Irma:** Your gal's had sad nightmares.  
 **Will:** Frightening not sad.  
 **Nashter:** Hey, babe. What about these nightmares?  
 **Will:** Hey 3  
 **Hay Lin:** How's stuff going, Nash? :D  
 **Nashter:** Cool, thanks Hay.  
 **Will:** I turned into a dragoon and the transformation was horrible. Cedric's got to be admirable bearing all that pain.

Hm. She had a typo. That was meant to be 'dragon', not 'dragoon'.

 **Nashter:** Oh?  
 **Irma:** RIP Cedric  
 **Will:** *dragon  
 **Hay Lin:** Reminds me. We should visit Orube soon. :(  
 **Taranee:** If we have time for that.  
 **Nashter:** "Dragoon" sounds awesome.  
 **Will:** Dragon not dragoon, babe.  
 **Cornelia:** I agree with Nash.

The doorbell rang. Twice. Where was Dean? Susan was out shopping with little William. Thrice.

"Will!" Dean's voice echoed. He was in the bathroom.

Grumbling, Will typed 'brb' as slowly as she could and pushed herself off her chair. She dragged her feet to the door, not really feeling like entertaining strangers, not after that nightmare and not when she was trying to troubleshoot with her current boyfriend and her teammates. Will opened it, and her jaw dropped at the sight.

"Who is it, Will?" Dean asked. Will didn't know what to say. "What do they want?"

"Indeed, why don't you ask, Will? Or rather, why don't you say 'Welcome back, _Will!_ '"

Indeed. What could Will say, and what should she tell the other sovereigns, if she saw her astral drop arrived at the front door, alive and kicking?

* * *

So uh yeah, it's a continuation of canon. Sort of.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, who is it, Will?"

"It's for me! Don't worry about it!"

Ignoring Dean, Will quickly shoved her astral drop outside and closed the door behind her.

Her astral drop huffed, crossing her arms. "Is it really time to be so secretive about it, Wilhelmina?"

Will frowned. "I've been legally just 'Will' for two years. Don't call me that."

"Aww, my bad." Her astral drop rolled her eyes. "In that case, you're obligated to call me 'Wilma'."

Will scrunched up her nose. What a girly name. Now that the sovereign observed her former double, Wilma seemed like a more feminine version of her. Wilma's hair seemed smoother and softer, straight and kept compared to Will's shaggy hairdo. The clothes too; Will was wearing baggy jeans and a baggy shirt, while Wilma wore a skimpy-looking spaghetti strap blouse over short shorts.

Between the two of them, Matt would surely choose Wilma now. That would make the astral drop very, very happy.

"Let's take this somewhere else," Will said.

"As the Keeper of the Heart says so." Wilma followed after her.

They found themselves on the rooftop about five minutes later. Will was only happy that her astral drop was being very cooperative today. She'd make the time worth it.

"What do you need, Wilma?" she asked.

"Nothing." Her double shrugged. "I was just saying hi."

"...no revenge schemes? No grudges to act upon?"

"Not really, I mean, you guys did release us, after all." Wilma smirked. "Aaaand, we've had good fortune ever since. Real good fortune."

The 'we' worried Will. Did that mean the other astral drops were also back in town? "S-such as what?"

"Catherine, Cornelia's astral drop, is now a full-fledged model. Everybody loves having Catherine in a shoot. She immediately fosters a friendly environment even among newbies."

Will bit her lip. "G-good..." Cornelia was in this very expensive all-girls college, but she struggled adapting to the atmosphere and group projects were the bane of her existence.

"There's Irene; she's Irma's. She's moved interests here and there, but she's pretty well-known for being an activist and speaking against many social issues." Irma's barely surviving college, but now she was doing much better than Will. Or rather, Will's grades were steadily dropping. Furthermore, Irma almost wrecked her relationship with Stephen.

"Talia, who was Taranee's. A book critic and editor. She's keeping an eye on like five best-selling authors." Taranee had good grades, but she just changed majors and will take longer to finish.

"And of course, Pao Chai. Famous cartoonist on the net. Lots of people on her commission waitlist every time." Hay Lin was struggling as an artist and couldn't please majority of her professors.

"...g-good for you guys, then. I see that you kept communication."

"Of course." Wilma flipped her hair. "We're each other's family."

"And you? How about you?"

"I'm a rockstar under the name 'Pumpkin Spice Witch'."

Will's brows wrinkled. "...that sounds good to be true."

Wilma only laughed. "I told you so many outlandish concepts about the others, and you only doubt when I tell you _my_ story?" She laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Will grimaced.

"So, all that-" The ensemble of the model, the activist, the editor, the cartoonist, the rockstar... "-is not true."

"Well what do you think that is?" Wilma's smirk taunted her.

"I don't know; because I don't know any of you that well?" Will huffed. This was a waste of time. She turned around. "I'm going back."

"Wait, wait, this one's true, I promise."

Wilma sounded rather... urgent. Serious. Will sighed.

"What is it?"

"So you know how we had to prove ourselves to the Oracle? We still do, even if we now report to Yan Lin."

Will raised her eyebrow.

"I'm here to tell you they want you there. Urgently."

That was weird. "Why not contact us through some portal?"

"Something happened with the Heart. And we've been told that if you didn't deal with it immediately, we'd disappear soon-ish."

Will scowled. Yet again, her astral drop only wanted something for her own gain. Will turned around again.

"I'm not finished yet, Will! If we disappear, then you too, you and your friends, you'll also disappear!"

"Stop crying wolf, Wilma. I'm not falling for that one."

Wilma reached for Will's shoulder and forced the sovereign to turn around.

"I'm serious. Really, really serious. Yan Lin said it was immediate," Wilma said, "Besides, I know we hate each other. I wouldn't have come to you if it wasn't that important."

"...fine. I'll go to Kandrakar. I just don't know how to explain my sudden absence-" Again. "-to either Dad or Mom."

"Uh, who's Dad?"

Right. Wilma was out of the loop since the astral drops left the guardians' side. "...Dean. He and Mom officially married."

"Ah. Your teacher. Makes sense." Wilma shrugged.

"So any suggestions on how to stall them?"

Wilma laughed rather bitterly, but she reached for her own shoulders. Now that Will paid attention to Wilma's arms, she found her elemental marks glowing on the astral drop's skin.

"After all," Wilma said, "I was part of you, Will Vandom. I still have your magic. I might be a different person, but I... I am still your astral drop."

o0o

This fic will update whenever possible.

Also, as a recap, Wilma is to Will, Irene is to Irma, Talia is to Taranee, Catherine is to Cornelia, and Pao Chai is to Hay Lin.


	4. Chapter 4

Wilma's form was enveloped in a pink light, and she morphed until she mirrored Will completely.

"That's freaky," Will noted.

Wilma flipped her hair. Ugh. Totally not a Will thing. "It's freakier to be an astral drop literally residing inside your mind, awaiting to come into existence again."

"Sure. Whatever."

"Yeah. Do your thing and I'll do mine."

Wilma ran down the stairs, and Will concentrated on her energy.

'Everyone. Nash. Irma. Taranee. Cornelia. Hay Lin.'

They picked up on her signal, almost simultaneously answering with 'Copy!'

'Kandrakar needs us, immediately.' Will connected her energies to their mental link, and said, "Sovereigns, power up!"

Her hair grew wild, wilder than the mess it already was. Large blue and indigo wings sprouted from her back, and her baggy outfit turned into a form-hugging one composed of a crop tank, fit pants with, and boots, with glittery tattoos decorating her arms.

"I can never get used to this," Will muttered. She's long dismissed her feminine, almost-copycat phase back in high school; it wasn't just so Will-like. Plus, the jeans and baggy clothes were much more comfortable; couldn't she have them in a new sovereign form somehow?

The nightmare touched her mind. She shook her head. Addendum: she wanted a form that conforms to her new style and was much less draconic!

The power of quintessence surrounded her and took her to Kandrakar. Next to her, the others appeared, all in their very bright, almost too bright and too sparkly girly outfits. Yuck. (No offense to Cornelia or Irma though; they love their outfits very much and Will thought those clothes were well-suited for them. But how about Taranee? How about Hay Lin?) Who was designing these outfits; XinJing? Yan Lin? That dude who keeps making these overly-long comments about rituals and clothes and traditions?

Nash had been the last to appear. Still the same as ever, with his Runic armor and his infamous forehead tattoo, and his 'emo' hairstyle, just that the signet of the Heart of Kandrakar was on his pauldrons - a mark that he was now an ally. Will smiled at the sight of him.

"Hey, babe," she greeted.

"Hey, awesome." Nash retreated to her side and wrapped an arm around her.

"Where's Grandma?" Hay Lin asked.

Will took a good look around. Indeed. The Council Hall appeared to be empty; the halls silent. Hay Lin listened, and listened, and listened.

"I hear nothing."

Will gazed into the white halls, into the long-winding paths of Kandrakar. Finally, she saw the elders. "...I see them." However, something appeared different. Something was wrong, very wrong. "They're all cowering and kneeling in fear... they're..."

Hay Lin listened again. "They're praying!"

"What are they praying for?" Taranee asked.

"Guidance. Hope. And... our safety?"

Just then, the roof above the Council Hall opened. The guardians gasped; Nash took a defensive stance, no doubt ready to activate a shield. Will stood close to him. An orb of light appeared.

"What is it?!" he asked Will.

"I can't see!" Which was odd for a sovereign with immense powers! "But I, I don't feel anything good about it!"

"What about the Heart?" Cornelia said. "Look at it with the Heart, Will!"

Just like with the Light of Meridian! "Heart of Kandrakar!" ...nothing. "The Heart!" Still nothing appeared in her hand. "Heart of Kandrakar, please..."

"The one you seek is right above you, Will."

Everyone gasped. Will herself could only freeze in shock. That voice... it was her voice!

Finally the bright light dissipated, and the mysterious creature finally revealed herself. The girls took a few steps back; Nash pushed Will behind him as he changed his stance.

"Who are you?!" he asked the stranger.

"The Will," she said, gazing at Will, "of the Heart of Kandrakar."

"But you, you look like... you can't be..." Will trailed off. She'd really had enough of seeing another version of herself today.

The Will of the Heart had to be crazy. No, Kandrakar itself must be crazy. The Will of the Heart had taken on Will's appearance as a teen, red hair and tanned skin and height all copied perfectly. The one thing that did convince the sovereigns that it was the Heart was its dress of an ethereal, crystal-like blue.

Will could feel a migraine forming. She wasn't ready for anything like this, and all in the span of a day.

* * *

I really just had to write it all down before everything escaped my mind.

Anyway, Will's supersight and Hay Lin's superhearing are part of their sovereign power-ups. The Will of the Heart of Kandrakar is illustrated and can be easily seen on my DeviantArt. Find the single image that is of Will in a dress; that's the one.


	5. Chapter 5

The Will of the Heart may have come down from the skies of Kandrakar, but it certainly was still floating before them. Its pink shawl flowed behind its form, the light weight carried by the Will's own energy. In the bright natural light cast down on the fortress, the Will's dress shone brilliantly like a jewel, its silver accessories paling in comparison.

Still, Will didn't know why the Will had to take her face, or her name, for that matter.

"Out with it," the Will said, "Ask away."

"Why the hell do you have my face?!" Will immediately asked, quintessence pooling in her hands. Her teammates might have gasped and suggested she calm down, but there was no way she was calming down at the sight of someone or something stealing her identity.

But the Will only said, "Simple. You are the current Keeper. Of course I will take your form. Would you rather I take Yan Lin's? Or Cassidy's? Or... Nerissa's?"

Will frowned and the energy around her ebbed.

"Good."

"So.. you're the Heart of Kandrakar?" Taranee asked.

"I am its will, but I am not the Heart itself." The Will smiled. "I am an aggregate of XinJing's heart, and all the keeper's own hearts. I am a being beyond anyone's control, a god if you may consider."

Hay Lin gulped. "Not a nymph?"

"XinJing and the dragons are the nymphs themselves in a mortal form." The Will crossed its arms. "The mortals are easily scared, and thus, they needed a different form to appeal to people like you."

"But what about Kandrakar's history? The nymphs... N'ghala..."

"You really ought to judge for your own. The elders might be immortal, to an extent, but they are not anything godly, all-knowing, or with good memory."

The sovereigns glanced at each other. What if, what if all along, Kandrakar had been making fools out of them? No. They were guided accordingly. This was just another test.

'Calm down,' Will reminded them through their mental link. 'The Will of the Heart acts on its own, and therefore, also has opinions of its own.'

"Any other questions?" the Will said.

Irma raised her hand. "Well, what do you need from us? Why did you call us here? We're pretty busy, y'know?"

"Too busy for the universe's affairs, sovereigns? Or should I call you guardians?"

"W-we hold control over the elements," Hay lin said. "That's not who we are anymore. We're... sovereigns."

"In that case, have you ever asked yourself if you were still... human?"

What a depressing question. Will was about to retort with an equally depressing answer, but Nash stomped and growled, "Enough with the guessing games. Tell us your business!"

The skies darkened. The Council Hall was bathed in pink light as the Will's dress glowed a similar color - much like how the Heart itself glowed. But nothing about it was hopeful or warm. It felt so cold! It felt so, so oppressive, so suffocating! And the Will, it floated above them. Its eyes were glowing bright; no doubt enraged!

"You will address me with respect, child of man!" the Will screamed, and the sovereigns cowered in terror. What an inhumane voice! And coming from a face mirroring their friends'!

Nash was lifted into the air. He struggled against some invisible force, no doubt by the power of the Will.

In a moment of weakness, Cornelia sent plants to crush the Will. However, leaves and branches alike melted in its hot glow. In retaliation, the Will sent a beam of light that phased through Cornelia.

" _CORNELIA!_ "

No sooner than Will could finish saying her name, Cornelia screamed and fell to the ground. The other sovereigns ran to her side, inspecting their now unconscious friend.

"Don't hurt them!" Will said, flying towards the Will. "Please! It's me you need, right?! Your business has to be with me!"

The Will only frowned, but it appeared to lose interest in Will's friends as it let Nash drop to the floor. Fortunately, Hay Lin's air caught him. Will sighed in relief.

"Why do you think that?" the Will asked her. Slowly, the surroundings faded back to normal, the Will's dress changing back to blue. "What do you have in you?"

"I'm the leader," Will answered. "For fuck's sake, I'm the Keeper of the Heart! Everyone wants business with me and only me! They want my friends so they can get to me. So you, you too, like with all my enemies... you want to... make me submit."

The Will tipped its head and floated away. "Are you rather sure about that?"

"Yes!" Will answered.

"You say that as if I have ill intentions. I am displeased, Will. Tell me, do you have some kind of grudge against the Heart?"

Will gasped. That was not true! "NO! I'm going by the evidences and the experience I gained!"

"Do you think that perhaps, only perhaps, an incident similar to that with Endarno and Prince Phobos is happening right now? Who could I be, masquerading as the Will of the Heart? Does the Will even exist, or am I just an illusion?"

Will grimaced. Energy pooled around her. This was getting frustrating and more confusing by the second.

"Or, perhaps, maybe..." the Will floated back before her, back bent and head tipped, lips pursed in an amused smile. "There resides darkness in your heart?"

Will froze. She tried to calm herself and hide her power, but in vain. Her mind looped around the many incidents and tests as a guardian, as a sovereign. Phobos. Nerissa. Matt. Dark Mother. The Runics. Sovereignhood. Sixtar. Galaxy 97. The Professor. The Time Lord. The people who hurt her. The people whose fates riddled her with guilt. The jobs she left unfinished. The astral drops. And now, the Will.

"Ah, yes... there is darkness in your heart, see?" it mused, "And it stains your soul. Did you know? This darkness also spreads to your friends and stains their souls."

Will's mind returns to Wilma's words. The sovereign's heart pounded in fear. "And we would disappear. All of us." She glanced at Nash. No. Not him. Please. Not Nashter.

"Your souls cannot bear it all. You will need the dragons' help. However, you cannot let darkness take over you."

Will gulped. "T-there will never be darkness in my heart. I will vanquish it!" For everyone's sake. For Nash's.

The Will seemed doubtful. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I will take it on! Be it some test or some pain, I will bear it! I will overcome it! I will triumph!"

The moment Will finished speaking, lightning flashed and thunder boomed. However, that was not from her. It was from something else, something from the high skies of Kandrakar. Will's eyes fixed on the dark clouds, from which a figure flew down, down, down, directly to her...

"Good luck, Will Vandom."

Then she woke up in her room, panting wildly. Goodness! What was that? Had that been just... a dream? All of it?

"Boo."

Large brown eyes met her gaze and Will screamed. No. It was definitely not a dream. Wilma was here, staying in her room, pink Quintessence tattoo glowing in the darkness.

Will knew something was up, but she didn't know if she was ready to face the challenge. Some semblance of regret was biting her, at the back of her mind. Some part of her even said she was losing grip of reality!

"The test's only started," Wilma said.

"Yeah... it just did..."

For the first time in her life, Will couldn't help but appreciate having Wilma around.

* * *

Aaaaand cut! I've only a vague idea of how to continue this, but let's just see!


End file.
